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Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow

September 9th, 2013

Joe’s going to try something new for the 2013 season, and maybe beyond. It’s sort of a morning stream of consciousness about the game yesterday, what Joe will write today, and what to look for in the future, along with random non-Bucs thoughts, as well.

Here goes:

The Lavonte David brainfart: Joe is shocked so many Bucs fans, for reasons unknown and somewhat twisted, refuse to acknowledge David’s grossly stupid error, giving the Jets a chance to kick a game-winning field goal, which Nick Folk drilled.

Donald Penn was not on the field at the time of the act. Neither was Josh Freeman. Nor Doug Martin, not even Michael Clayton, Jr. Kevin Ogletree.

David was. David opened the door for the Jets, begging the zebras to throw a flag by placing his hands on the NFL’s version of a porcelain doll, a quarterback, in this case the Jets Geno Smith. The referees, under direct orders of NFL honchos to protect quarterbacks to silly degrees, were only happy to oblige.

Stop with the “but if David pulls up, Smith could have run up field.” Good! Even more reason to not touch him. IF Smith tries to turn up field, the clock runs out and the game is over. Bucs win. Smith had to run out of bounds to kill the clock or the game would have been over at that point. If he throws an incomplete pass before running out of bounds, the game is over.

Joe cannot find a reasonable mind to suggest David didn’t cost the Bucs a win. It was that ignorant of a play, that critical of a play at the game’s most crucial moment. His action directly led to the game-winning play. It sure as heck wasn’t Luke Stocker who got flagged.

Sure, David wasn’t the only guy who got a penalty on defense. So too did Dashon Goldson and Mark Barron. Joe got Twitters during the game gloating over Goldson’s hits, no matter they cost the Bucs 15 yards. Yeah, Joe likes good hitting, but Joe always thought the object of the defense was to get off the field, not to produce NFL Films highlights.

It galled Joe that Goldson — who Joe really likes — was celebrating like he won Lotto while a flag lay on the ground.

Look, you can whine and cry about how the NFL is now flag football and Joe doesn’t disagree. But rules are rules, and until the competition committee changes the rules, if you don’t follow them, there will be consequences, in yesterday’s case, that consequence was a loss.

Which brings Joe to coaching. David, Barron and to a lesser degree, Mason Foster, defiantly noted in the locker room that this is how the Bucs play defense. Well, someone better tell defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan that the NFL has changed rules, and unless the Bucs decide to follow those same rules, he can and should expect flags, which very well could cost the Bucs another game, or maybe more.

This is undisciplined football, and Joe is shocked that a discipline guy like Greg Schiano would allow this defiance to NFL rules.. Someone needs to teach these guys the new rules. In some circles, that’s called coaching.

Yes, Joe loves physical football. The Steelers-Raiders street brawls in the 1970s were awesome. But we don’t live in 1975 any longer. To ignore the changes the NFL has made in the game is akin to passing a cop on the highway going 90 mph and then after getting pulled over, whining to the officer about how you hate a 65 mph limit.

Doug Martin’s beating: Joe’s all for sticking to a gameplan but geez, about the only run Martin had was late in the game when it appeared Freeman read a run blitz and audibled with Martin running right at the blitzer for a big gain.

No, Freeman was not Joe Montana yesterday, but that slant from the left with Vincent Jackson was open all day long and produced many big plays. Joe would have rather seen Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan call that play time and again as opposing to running Martin into a wall.

Taking the foot off the throat: The Bucs, up 14-5, had the Jets on the ropes and had the ball in the first half. You go up 17-5 or 21-5, and force a rookie quarterback to play that kind of catch-up football, well, the game is all but in the bag. As we all know, the Bucs not just took their feet off the Jets’ throats, they helped them up, dusted them off, offered them a sandwich, and bought them a cold beer.

Cut the head off the snake when you get a chance! Don’t let it slither away only to bite you later.

No discipline: Joe was shocked by how sloppy, lethargic and undisciplined the Bucs played yesterday.

Joe used to go diving off the Pinellas County shoreline at a place called “The Barges.” Shipwrecks have been there for decades, yet some of the pieces of those ships weren’t even close to being as rusty as the Bucs looked on offense early. Wow, was there any guess Freeman had fewer snaps in preseason than the number of beers Joe guzzles in a weekend? Add to that dropped passes, two timeouts, and a delay of game penalty on three consecutive plays. Throw in all the silly defensive penalties and it makes Joe wonder where the Bucs’ heads were?

Schiano is a disciplinarian and he runs a tight ship and rigid practices. He had to be out of his mind. After six weeks of practices, training camp, preseason games and for the Bucs to come out and play like a bad high school team, well, Joe’s guessing Schiano was eating a steady diet of Tums last night.

DJ Toes on the Line: How galling was it that Kellen Winslow, Sgt. Winslow, who couldn’t handle Schiano’s tough guy ways, and quit on Bill Belicheat, was talking about playing disciplined football in his Jets’ win? Winslow had a critical touchdown late in the first half and that had to be unsettling for “DJ Toes on the Line” to be preaching discipline in his first game against the Bucs since being dumped by the current Bucs regime.

Return of Darrelle Revis: If there was one positive, it was the play of Revis. Yes, Revis Island sure looked like old Revis. Sure, it was against a rookie QB. But it was damned good to see Revis deny the Jets a few passes.

Revis will surely be tested by Drew Brees in six days.

Ugly near future: Oh, the next two quarterbacks to test Revis and the Bucs? Tom Brady and Brees. Yikes. If the Bucs let a rookie quarterback beat them, what can two future Hall of Famers do? Oh, and so much for the Saints not having any defense, holding Matty Ice and the Dixie Chicks to 17 points.

He nearly bailed the Bucs out by marching the Bucs to a go-ahead field goal with 34 seconds left. Joe sure wishes Freeman could play a full game the way he plays most fourth quarters.

Rookie quarterbacks E.J. Manuel damn near knocked off Bill Belicheat and, of course, we all saw Smith beat the Bucs. Meanwhile, Josh Freeman’s record in road contests the past 16 games is a woeful 4-12.

Mason Foster strong: Though he started slow (who didn’t?) with poor pass defense, Bucs middle linebacker Mason Foster had a helluva game and a sack that forced a fumble. Great stuff.

VJax: He played outstanding football. If half the team played as well as Vincent Jackson, then a win would have been in the bag. Man, where would the Bucs be without this guy?

Mike Williams: He gave Bucs fans a major scare when he cramped up in the first half, but he returned to be productive again. The Bucs offense was so lethargic at points during the game that the best thing about the offense was Williams’ fire engine red shoes.

Lousy stunts: Once in the second half, on a pass play, the Bucs called a silly stunt where Gerald McCoy looped way, way, way to his left. The stunt was so far out to the left that GMC effectively took himself out of the play. He may as well have sat on the bench and taken a break.

When your best defensive lineman is takeb out of a play due to a stunt, Joe wonders just how effective these things can actually be?

NFL thoughts:

Panthers: The Stinking Panthers served notice they are no pushover. Facing a playoff team last year in Seattle, the Panthers held Seattle to 12 points — four field goals! Think it is safe to say the Panthers defense is for real?

Bears: Bratty Jay Cutler threw two touchdowns in the Bears win over the Bengals. This is a team to look out for. The Bears launched Lovie Smith after winning 10 games last year, in part, to light a fire under Cutler.

If the Bucs are going to make the playoffs (quit laughing, there are 15 more games to play), then add the Bears to the Wild Card chase.

Dolphins: They clobbered the hapless Brownies and Joe is thinking Ryan Tannehill could be a top-level quarterback when all is said and done this season. Joe’s not ready to call the Fish a playoff team, but watch out for Tannehill.

Lions: Matt Stafford threw a pair of touchdowns in a win against the Vikings, a playoff team last season. Joe doesn’t know why people rag on Stafford. When healthy, he is a fine quarterback. He’s done something Freeman has never done: get his team to the postseason.

Colts: Andrew Luck wasn’t spectacular, but he picked up where he left off with a pair of touchdowns in a win over the worthless Raiders. New offensive coordinator? No problem.

Chiefs: Joe’s not jumping on the “Andy Reid is God” bandwagon, yet. The Jags are putrid. Totally and completely putrid. Joe’s not sure they could have a winning record in the CFL.

Titans: Like the Chiefs, it was more their opponent’s struggles than anything the Titans did right. People rag on Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik’s efforts to build a defensive line, but what about the Steelers and their offensive line? The Men of Steel have drafted and signed several offensive linemen the past three years and still Mike Tomlin cant’t put together a line that can block a stiff breeze. Injuries are part of the equation, but still.

49ers: Really solid outing against the Packers in a rematch of two playoff teams. Sure, the Packers got hosed over a bad math call by the zebras. Joe has a hunch these two old rivals will face each other again in January.

Rams: Joe’s not sure this is significant or not. Just how good are the Cardinals? But as the old saying in the NFL, a win is a win. Sam Bradford nearly had 300 yards passing. Wonder if he has turned the corner?

Cowgirls: Joe only has three words: Crying David Wilson (remember how Dominik stole Doug Martin from the Giants by trading up ahead of New York?).

Non-NFL thoughts:

1) Wonder if Georgiafan is still crying over Mark Richt after the Bulldogs throttled South Carolina? Speaking of the Cocks, Joe always thinks it’s cool when assistant coaches get into a fight during the game.

2) People rooting for Johnny Football’s demise mightwant to settle down. He is actually playing better than he was last year, albeit against cupcakes. Bama in five days is anything but a cupcake.

3) How does Mack Brown have a job? No coach — none! — gets less out of his recruits than Mack Brown. The good taxpayers of the Lone Star State are paying this guy $5 million a year for this schlap? Unless somehow he gets Texas to totally turn things around, it’s hard to see how Brown returns to Austin next fall. What will be funny is watching all those oil barons rustle up spare change to make a run at Nick Saban for a cool $8 million a year.

4) Have the Rays finally stopped their freefall? Hopefully. Man, what a choke job the Rays are in the middle of. They were in first place; now they are fighting for their wild card lives.

5) The Redbirds and Reds had sweeps over the weekend and the National League Central is a true three-team race. Is there a more overrated manager than Cardinals Mike Matheny? He is brutal. Just exactly how can he justify trotting out Amy Lynn every five days and expect people to pay their hard-earned cash to watch such tripe?

6) Sorry folks, the USA has zero business in Syria. Joe can understand carpet bombing the place for using gas, but in no uncertain terms should an American serviceman step foot on that poisoned soil.

It’s time for America to stop being the world’s cop. With so many Americans needing jobs, healthcare, etc., there is no rational reason to invest billions of Benjamins over there.

9) Joe will have more on this later this week, but he will recount his trip to the Big Apple and Sopranosland. In short, his stories will include a lost cabbie/thief, body painting, Cornhusker Beer in Times Square and the Gettysburg Address.

I would love to read what you have to say about New York. I’m leaving on my honeymoon this Saturday for New York, then to Boston and going to the Bucs Pats game. My very first live sporting event. This old hillbilly is going to be a fish out of water in that big ole city.

@Joe, about the new format, Too many thoughts and content. I like it, but there is more content than 8 stories in there, I bet your average reader only can read 4 before becoming confused.

1, about Lavonte, I compare it too the rays getting no-hit and you blame the last guy for striking out. Lavonte is a good player. He was visible sick of the bad play he did after the game. he will learn from that bad play.

2 I was actually excited by the game, they are a little ahead of were i had this team pegged at this point.

3. about Seria , wait for the UN findings, and for now just send the Unofficial Ambassador of the USA Dennis Rodman. He will get to the bottom of things over there!

FREEMAN GOT OUTPLAYED BY GENO SMITH
Nope. They are both QBs. They are never on the field at the same time. This nonsense about how many wins a QB personally has, or QB v QB matchups, is a bunch of crap.

FREEMAN RESPONSIBLE FOR TH LOSS
Nope, he may not have had a great day, but he certainly wasn’t the worst. What about poor play-calling from Sullivan? What about poor O-Line play? And even with poor O-line, wouldn’t you expect a 1st round running back to break off at least 1 or 2 longish runs?

FREEMAN IS THE FUTURE OF THE FRANCHISE
As someone pointed out yesterday, it’s not 1994 anymore, and it doesn’t/shouldn’t take a drafted QB 5 years to settle into a starting role. Generally, if a 5th year QB in 2013 hasn’t yet “got it”, he never will. That said, do how we explain away 2010? 25:6 TD:INT ratio, balls the size of grapefruits in clutch situations, and also nearly 500 yards (IIRC) rushing. He HAS done it in the League before.

It’s like if some one blame the whole team including Freeman, people think that person is giving Free a pass. Get real. Freeman was terrible. Everyone admits to that. Including Joe. Joe said he had a good drive, he didn’t say he had a good game

Sure, the call & David’s mistake cost us a win….but, lets face it, we should not have been anywhere close to that position.

I think the bottom line comes with the poor coaching. The gameplan with Martin wasn’t working and we didn’t adjust.
On defense, we didn’t contain Smith…and our “prevent” defense never prevents anything.

No, Schiano sholdn’t have gone for a touchdown instead of a fieldgoal late in the game….but trying to get a first down is another matter….third & three….roll Josh out (where has that been) either have him run or throw a very high percentage pass (not an easy thing for Freeman)….

I don’t understand our offense…..we threw one time to a TE & that was behind the line of scrimmage and probably not designed. We used Leonard maybe once or twice.
We get burned by TEs most every game…and don’t have one. Luke Stocker is becoming the next Myron Lewis.

Avoid mid-town and only take a quick walk through Times Square. Wastelands.
Bring comfortable shoes, you’ll walk more than you realize.
Don’t look people in the eye on subway.
Don’t try to hail a cab b/w 4-5 p.m., you won’t find one.
Don’t bother with the titty bars, too expensive.
Don’t eat bar-b-que here.

I’m referring mostly to yesterday’s “You have to use your head” posting.

Today:

“Joe cannot find a reasonable mind to suggest David didn’t cost the Bucs a win”

Totally agree with everything you said about the Bucs, Joe. I was also disappointed to hear David claim Smith was not out of bounds when he hit him. Just admit the mistake so we can move past it. I also wanted to point out that I was excited at the play of Clayborn. Although he did not get a sack, he was up Smiths a$$ all night. I loved his intensity. When watching the NYG last night, the announcers commented how Coughlin made the starters play some in the 4th preseason game because he thought they needed to develop more chemistry… I guess with the fine showing our starters had against the Dolphins showed the Bucs were just fine without anymore work as was evident in the 1st Q last night. Final thought. Also while watching the Cowgirls vs NYG, Romo was just killing it. So for a list of QB’s that makes me drool (not in any particular order): Payton, Brady, Eli, Rogers, Romo, Brees, Flacco, Ryan, Roethlisberger, and now Kaepernick, Wilson, Luck, RG3, and I would be happy with Schaub, Rivers, and Alex Smith. That’s 16 QB’s, or half the league that now has potential superstars under center. So if half the brain trusts in the NFL can get it right, why can’t Dominik? And if we are built to win now, wouldn’t it have been nice for the Bucs to trade for Alex Smith for this year instead of the Chiefs? Now what?

Sloppy undisciplined football comes from no practice and when you let the inmates, in the form of the players, dictate when and how they are going to practice via the collective bargaining agreement, this is the type of football you get. Every team looked like crap (yes, I did see portions of every game), yesterday, some looked better than others, but we really won’t know anything about these teams until week 3 or 4 when the players get into the flow of the season and have caught up with the speed of the actual game.

Nice Joe! Thanks! My top 10 thoughts….
1) David cost us the game, period.
2) Freeman sure looks lost at times for a 5th year player.
3) Great job O Line! Bostad must be inconsolable today.
4) Defense played hard, loved the hitting, not the penalties.
5) Coach Schiano has failed miserably, while he obsesses over details and preparation, none carries onto the field.
6) The refs were in this game from to finish.
7) If our esteemed global leader, beloved by the free world can’t get the UN to do it’s supposed job, expel it to Iceland and cut funding.
8) If you thought yesterday was ugly, my advice to you Flounder is to start drinking heavily right now
9) Erin Andrews…. sigh…
10) It may just be a very long season Joe, better watch your blood pressure.

Hey good article Joe!
Only thing I have to say is that I’ve actually been on board with the whole schiano order, that is until yesterday afternoon. There was no disciple and a lot of blank faces on that sideline. Play calling was just as vanilla as pre season.
I know lvd did cost us a game but in the grand scheme of things that is a small mistake compared to the game as a whole.
Freeman:3points second half. And please don’t make him out as a hero for driving us down the field for a lousy three points with like 5 on the clock.
Spence, GMC, Claiborne looked awesome…

Yeah, that’s mid-town alright. You probably got a good hotel deal there though. Just don’t think you have to sight-see around where you sleep, walk downtown or uptown around central park. MSG is a full of schemers and pick-pockets, just avoid conversation with strangers all together. Keep walking, b/c they’ll try to engage you if you stick out like a tourist.

Joe, even though I don’t 100% agree with every point I like the football-related portion of the article. My main disagreement is concerning Goldston. Those were good hits and I suspect the NFL will say so this week. Won’t do us any good though.

That’s all I disagree with but I would like to add…

OGLETREE
He was horrible in the preseason and I do not understand why he is higher on the depth chart then Underwood. Say what you will about Underwood but at least he has soft hands and fewer drops when playing.

SYRIA
I’m a firm believer that the only thing required for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.

However, I’m also a believer that in order for good nations to step into their own, sometimes the common good guy (us) has to step back. As long as we keep being the first to leap no one else will do anything. So I agree with you, Joe, though probably not for the same reasons entirely.

Also, I find it hard to believe the headset problem was coincidence. It’s amazing that the Jets didn’t have problems.

And those refs were crooked as heck. They made a bunch of bad calls on the Bucs but let the Jets get away with the same and worse things.

The false start on Zuttah after during the headset issue was a sham. Zuttah handled himself the exact same way on every play throughout the game and it was never called again.

I could go thru a list of bonehead penalties that should not have been called…or should have been called on the Jets.

THE HEADSET ISSUE
It was clear the coaches had not prepared for anything like that. Thats on them. Fans can point out that Peyton Manning would have taken control, but Josh Freeman is not Peyton Manning.

One play?
We are talking about the Jets. A good team would not have let the Jets hang in there until the end. Even if we would have won by 2, I would still be concerned. We put losses on everyone but the coaches. I don’t know why we have anointed these guys so quickly. We were simply out-coached yesterday.

As for Freeman, he is probably not the best but definitely not the worst. I believe that the Schiano has made things worst by telling Freeman not to run out of the pocket. It’s obvious he is thinking to much. Glennon will do better not because he is better but because Schiano will have faith in him and give him more freedom. We are better off starting Glennon if that’s his guy.

@mt that pic shows the best angle.
The rule: Late Hit: Once play has stopped on the field, either by the referee blowing his whistle to end it or by a player going out of bounds, players cannot be tackled or hit.
If he isn’t out of bounds, IT ISN’T A LATE HIT!

He was out of bounds, TD. I didn’t think he was either, but both feet were over the line when the hit came.

Bucworld Says:
“I believe that the Schiano has made things worst by telling Freeman not to run out of the pocket.”

I tend to agree, but it really isn’t an issue right now. Even if Freeman were given permission to run, where would he go? They were all over him. I thought Donald Penn got it together. Joseph was rusty, so I get that.

The rest were horrible, and Stocker blew blocks over and over. The first sack was fully on Stocker.

And I don’t want to hear this crap about Freeman holding onto the ball to long. He has to have room to draw back his arm to throw and 90% of the time he didn’t. They were on him too fast.

Yes, Freeman does hold the ball to long. The fact is, he has to see someone open before he throws, you see it constantly with him, and by the time he sees the receiver open, it is to late. You see him pat the ball, and double clutch while staring down the receiver. Sack, or interception, and a few times the great WR’s bail him out with a great catch.

Gun shy, and no confidence. With the Oline being mediocre, or down right sucking in pass protection, it is even more important to get rid of the ball.

Besides the complete fail in Foreign policy concerning Syria, the next thing on the list that bothers me is how many times VJ just looks at the balls thrown to him, and makes no attempt to catch. They are that far off.

They have to roll him out more often. Move the pocket, hurry up Offense. If he isn’t capable, we will see Glennon in the next few games.

Freeman really have no where to go because of the blocking. I just thought it was odd that the Jets gave more liberty to a rookie qb than we did. We are not doing Freeman any favors by starting him and not truly believing in him. Freeman is thinking too much and he has zero confidence. Scary combo for a QB in the NFL.

I agree with chef paul we need to drop ogletree. Underwood has speed too but has at least shown the ability to catch passes. Even collie would be an upgrade at least his hands are solid we shouldnt wait until after more dropped passes cost us a game. Schianos gameplan didnt do s h i t why cant he make in game adjustments or even half time adjustments. I really like him as a coach but this aint college no more. Sure we gotta run to close out the game or get the pass going but it works vice cersa u learned that last year come on schiano! When doug martin got stuffed before he became a rookie sensation freeman was called on to pass the ball. Most fans n media outlets tend to forget that. In the pros u cant force the run especially when its clearly seen the jets were well prepared for it. Play action that s h i t. I like stocker too but we need a te bad! We played a good defense everybody. On sunday they showed up and knew prehand that they needed to bottle up martin. In the bucs passing game who are u scared of after williams n jackson? Freeman isnt the problem i believe its his lack of solid recieving weapons. Our defense played great! Besides the penalties it was a good defensive game for us. Schiano has to learn offensively u gotta feel the defense out n adjust the gameplan accordingly. Be ready to pass or run the ball. Its like boxing take what the defense is giving u to open up some power shots.